Perlbrew depends on environment variables, so you have to make sure that they are configured correctly in all cases when you call ubic. This especially includes the crontab which entry ubic installs for you. You'll probably have to edit it manually, like this:

Dot is a reserved symbol, it separates service name parts in service tree (like / separates directories in unix filesystems). So, if you really want the service foo.bar, put its description in /etc/ubic/service/foo/bar.

Dot in config file names is used to distinguish different configuration styles. Extension-less configs are pure-perl, *.ini is ini configs, etc.

Optionally, ubic-guardian can write some information to its log, for example, the exit code or signal in case of service failure. Despite its name, ubic-guardian *does not* restart the service on failures. It's the job for the completely different program, ubic-watchdog.

It also holds the lock on the pidfile for a whole lifetime, which theoretically makes daemons more secure, but it's more of a historical nuance than the necessity.

It's probable that ubic-guardian will become optional in the future (i.e. it will only be created if service asks for ubic_log). Anyway, don't worry about it, it's completely harmless.

Resolving of service by port can't be done on-the-fly by ubic.ping, because all service definitions are cached internally by Ubic.pm (Ubic::Multiservice, actually, but you don't have to know the difference), since constant reloading of service definition can cause memory leaks. So ubic.ping just loads portmap generated by ubic.update instead, resolves service name by port, and loads cached service status from another local file.

In other words, if you don't use ubic.ping, you can stop both ubic.update and ubic.ping services.

It's called after "Ubik" - science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. I spelled it incorrectly in early releases, because "c" and "k" are indistinguishable in Russian language, and now it's too late to fix this.

Why is it called after "Ubik"? Well, these two quotes can hint to some suggestions:

"This substance, whose name is derived from the word "ubiquity", has the property of preserving people who are in half-life."
"Ubik is a metaphor for God. Ubik is all-powerful and all-knowing, and Ubik is everywhere."

Alternatively, one possible backronym is "Ubic Because I Can" :) (Thanks to Christopher Paulicka for suggesting it!)